ModWright mods for S9000ES and 333ES (long)

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Last night at the October Pacific Northwest Audio Society meeting had Dan Wright of ModWright as a special guest while we listened to modified and unmodified 333ES's and S9000ES's.
We listened to an unmodified S9000ES, my S9000ES with most of the ModWright level III mods, and Dan's S9000ES with level III and Bybee filters and I don't know what else (Dan, feel free to fill in my missing details :) All three were well burned in.
Also we had a (unfortunately brand new) stock 333ES and a ModWright modified 333ES.
Also mikel brought his Marantz SA-1 (with King Cobra v.2 power cord) for a good reference.
(I apologize in advance for this being much less formal than it deserves; I didn't take notes, I don't know the details of the amp, interconnects, and speakers used, but they were the club's reference system and were pretty darned good :) (As a reporter I'm just about worthless.) Perhaps others who were there will add their thoughts and more details.)
We checked that the levels all matched and (except on my S9000ES level III player) we used the same custom power cords. Also we always used matched interconnects. There were approx 20 people there.
Stock S9000ES vs. Dan's S9000ES:
We got off to a rocky start where the sources were switched anonymously with no announcements and everyone was confused.
We then used track 6 off of the FIM Audiophile Reference IV SACD (Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child) and listened to player A for the whole cut, then player B, then player A. The difference was amazing: the noise floor was lower, the decays lasted a lot longer, the base was much firmer, the soundstage was more detailed. We all could easily tell which player has been modified.
After this we dropped the blind A/B's. In fact there was rarely a question which machine was which without announcements.
We listened to a variety of cuts from the FIM SACD and the Live Recordings at Red Rose Music SACD. To me one of the most differentiating cuts was the Pachelbel's Canon in D (track 16 on the FIM). I don't have the liner notes here, but it's performed by a percussion group. (We all got very tired of this cut since we used for too many A/B's. :) Once again the difference in noise floor, decay, bass, soundstage, etc. were quite dramatic.
The Marantz:
When we listened to the Marantz, there was one again unanimous agreement that it was significantly better than anything else there. (Not a big surprise, but I know that more than one person present was trying to figure out how to swing getting the Marantz.) The sound was warmer, more detailed, and smoother. No contest, it is a fine piece of equipment. A lot of lust for the Marantz was apparent. (A few people wondered how much of this was the Marantz vs. the King Cobra, but we didn't run any experiments on this topic.)
Stock 333ES vs. ModWright moded 333ES:
This really wasn't a fair test since the stock 333ES was brand new, but the differences were much more apparent in this case than between the stock S9000ES and the modified S9000ES. I don't think anyone in the room except Dan Wright expected what we heard. The stock 333ES was noticeably week in detail soundstage, bass response (at least compared to what we'd been listening to to this point.) The modified 333ES was a fine unit.
Modified 333ES vs. Modified S9000ES:
Once again you get what you pay for. The S9000ES was just more and better of the things listed above. But it was clear to us that the 333ES was a great value for the money. And the mods to it are also great value for the money. I regret that we didn't compare the modified 333ES directly against the stock S9000ES.
Level III mods on a S9000ES vs. the extra mods on Dan's S9000ES:
I'm biased here because I've been listening to the level III mods for 8-10 hours weekdays for a month. But there was a lot of general agreement that the level III mods made a fine machine to listen to. There was however a clear difference when we went to Dan's box. I'm getting those mods for myself soon :)
We also listened to modified P-3A's, S9000ES's playing DADs, etc., but the meeting was starting to break up by then so no comparisons were really made.
Summary:
It's clear that (aside from the warrantee issue) there is a lot to be gained from judicious modifications.
There are a broad variety of modifier's out there and as far as I can tell, they all can give you a good selection of modifications to match your budget and desires.
Speaking for myself here:
Dan Wright clearly demonstrated that he has a good grasp of what each individual modification achieves and he has experience with these units as well has others and can offer good advice about which mods give the best bang for the buck in achieving your goals.
-Ted
P.S.
I don't want this to be a hit and run, but I'm short on time today and will be offline till next Thursday. Hopefully others who were there will answer questions, add their thoughts and add more details.

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Topic - ModWright mods for S9000ES and 333ES (long) - Ted Smith 11:30:25 10/12/01 (4)

Re: ModWright mods for S9000ES and 333ES (long) - mikel 20:18:06 10/12/01 (0)

What mods were done to the 333? - markl 17:32:08 10/12/01 (0)

Re: ModWright mods for S9000ES and 333ES (long) - Stefan D 14:16:17 10/12/01 (1)

RE: DAC or upgrade S9000ES - Ted Smith 15:48:04 10/12/01 (0)

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